Tour of the Grounds

Student Understandings:

If time permits, students will be led on a self-guided tour of the grounds by the chaperone/teacher. The Hampton Estate has several buildings that are not part of the four-station rotation. The tour provides an opportunity for students to see other areas and buidlings, such as the orangery, the icehouse, the mansion gardens, the cemetery, and the stables.

Materials/Teacher Prep:

Rules for the grounds tour — No running, yelling, or wandering. Students must stay with the chaperone leading the grounds tour at all times.

Procedures:

Spend a few minutes reminding students of the focus question: "What impact did the American Revolution have on the lives of people at Hampton?"

Students will be led on a tour of the Hampton grounds by a chaperone/teacher. Teachers/chaperones may decide where to start the tour.

The chaperone will stop at each area and share some background information. Students will be given a few minutes to explore the stop and then move on to the next stop.

After students are finished with the tour of the grounds, they will continue to rotate through the other stations.

Additional Information:Provided by Hampton National Historical Site

Ice House -
Ice, which was cut from ponds in the winter and then used during the hot summer months, was stored in the ice house. With its subterranean, circular, stone-lined shaft, Hampton's ice house is unique because it is larger and deeper than average. The Hampton ice house was probably constructed at the same time as the mansion in 1790. Menus at Hampton show that different flavors of ice cream, presumably made from Hampton ice, were served for dessert during formal dinners.

Orangery - An orangery is a type of greenhouse, used to grow plants and citrus trees in large pots. The Hampton orangery has large glass windows and a hypocaust furnace that provided heat through flues that ran under the floor. At Hampton, the potted trees were taken out in the summer to decorate the terraces. There were other greenhouses on the property. The original orangery was constructed around 1824. The current structure is a reconstruction built in the 1970s to replace the original, which burned in 1926.

Parterres - The parterres were formal gardens built on terraces to the south of the main house. The ladies and gentlemen of Hampton mansion and their guests often walked in these gardens. At one time, there were at least eight parterres and five terrace levels. The word comes from the French, meaning "on the ground." The original idea behind parterres was to mimic a vivid indoor carpet.

Ridgely Family Cemetery - Historically, a family vault was intended to gather the whole family (including future generations) into it as if it were the family house. The Ridgely family mausoleum (vault) is believed to have been built in 1825-1826. It was common practice in Baltimore during the 1700s for the family patriarch to occupy rear-center of a burial ground, with his heirs grouped around him. As long as the patriarch was with his family, and covered by the family vault, it would have not mattered where his body was placed. When the vault was constructed, other family members who were buried in other sections of the cemetery were exhumed and placed in it.